The Prosecution after making imputations against the Respondents are required to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

JUDGMENT :

Meenakshi Madan Rai, J.

1. The Appellant assails the Judgment of the Learned Special Judge, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, East District, at Gangtok, dated 30-08-2016, in S.T. (CBI) Case No.01 of 2013, by which,

(a) the Respondent No.1, Dr. Pratap Makhija, (hereinafter “A1”) was acquitted of the offence under Sections 120B, 471 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, “IPC”) and Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short, “P. C. Act”);

(b) the Respondent No.2, Ramayana Singh Meena (hereinafter “A2”), was acquitted of the offence under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC;

(c) the Respondent No.3, Surendra Mohan Sihara (hereinafter “A3”), was acquitted of the offence under Sections 420, 471 and 120B of the IPC;

(d) the Respondent No.4, Mukesh Kumar (hereinafter “A4”), was acquitted of the offence under Sections 420, 471 and 120B of the IPC; and

(e) the Respondent No.5, Tara Chand (hereinafter “A5”), was acquitted of the offence under Sections 197 and 120B of the IPC and Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the P. C. Act.

2(i). The Special Public Prosecutor Mr. Kali Charan Mishra for the Appellant/Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) advancing his arguments for the Appellant briefly put forth the facts leading to registration of the case against the Respondents on 25-10-2006. That, on completion of investigation Charge-Sheet was submitted against A1 to A5 and one Dr. Khagendra Neopaney under Sections 120B, 420, 468, 471 of the IPC and Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the P.C. Act.

(ii) It was the submission of Learned Special Public Prosecutor that relevant sanction for launching prosecution against A1 to A4 had been obtained from the concerned authority, P.W.30 Ramesh Babu Devella as evident from Exhibits 111 to 114. That, A1 in connivance with A2, A3 and A4 adopted procedural irregularities in the selection process by accepting their applications which were not only devoid of necessary documentation, but forged documents had also been submitted. That, A2 while seeking appointment as General Duty Attendant had submitted a false Scheduled Caste Certificate, besides which his mother’s name was recorded as ‘Mina’ in Exhibit 39 and “Sunhari” in Exhibit 40 with intent to cheat the Government. A3 while seeking appointment as a Laboratory Attendant had furnished a false local address to project himself as a local candidate, this act was duly supported by the evidence of P.W.2, P.W.6, P.W.12, reliance was also placed on Exhibit 60 and Exhibit 41. A4 had furnished a forged Birth Certificate and inadequate Typing Certificate. The furnishing of a forged Birth Certificate was established by the evidence of P.W.21 and Exhibits 47, 48, 86 and 87. Exhibit 42 submitted by A4 stating that he was undergoing a typing course was false as P.W.27 had deposed that he was suspended from the course and P.W.15 vide Exhibit 85 proved that the typing speed of A4 was ‘21’ words per minute as against the required speed of 30 words per minute for a candidate. That, A2 and A4 had also furnished local addresses dishonestly to project themselves as local candidates and consequently obtained 5 (five) extra marks and were selected for appointment by fraudulent means.

(iii) That, there were other procedural requirements that were flouted by A1 since the Recruitment Rules, Exhibit ‘F’ required that appointments to the posts were to be made from local candidates by obtaining information of eligible local candidates from the Local Employment Cell. Contrary to the Rules, A1 issued the advertisement for employment first and thereafter sought a list of candidates from the Local Employment Cell. He had also not maintained any backlog roster for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates and discrepancies were found in the roster submitted by him. These facts were supported by the evidence of P.W.1 and P.W.5 as also Exhibits 4, 5, 6, 19, 34, 35, ‘F’ and ‘L’. A1 deliberately concealed the medium of typing test as being in Hindi to enabl